Forest and Field

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Transcript of Forest and Field

Forest and Field The Vision Behind the Bouquet My Vision Support Local Growers Imported: Fair Trade and Organic 10% Off For You! Where in the World The Lowest Price Increase DemandDecrease Wants What can be done? This goes for everything from food to clothing.Such a large percentage of what we purchase is made or harvested in such a way that peoples lives are put on the back burner. The problem is, sometimes these are the only jobs available to them and they have to feed their families. So we must increase demand for organic, fair trade products in the hope that things will change. But that means we have to be willing to spend more for what we want. "Most flower workers get paid the minimum wage which is about $8 a day. $215 a month has to pay for food for the kids, education, healthcare and this is not enough to live off of. They price of food has also increased recently. They take out a percentage of our salary for healthcare, meals, and other things." -Amanda Camacho (worker) The majority of cut flowers are shipped from countries like Columbia and Ecuador and make up 90% of the US cut flower industry today. California used to be the main provider in the country but now, they can't keep up or provide the low prices of these flowers shipped from across the world. At the wholesale market there is a group called the Oregon Flower Growers Association. These are all the local growers in the area. I've done my best in the past to purchase from them but when winter approaches I have little option. I would like to get to the point where I am almost fully using local growers. I have already begun contacting a few of the growers in the area to establish relationships as I make this change. During a time like winter, where I may need to purchase imported flowers for a wedding, (unless they are wanting a pine and twig bouquet!) I would like to only purchase those which are fair trade and organic in hopes that a demand will rise as people are informed and things will change for the workers. I believe in these issues so much that I would like to give you, my client, 10% off if you use local and or organic, fair trade flowers for your wedding! From Ground to Bouquet Apart from all the unfair pay and chemical poisoning done to the workers what else goes into a cut flower from somewhere like Columbia. -The petroleum heavy pesticide-Energy for irrigation -Refrigeration during transport and in the retail setting -Transport(air freight and car delivery. Poisoned Workers -women workers comprise the majority of employees in the flower industry in developing countries such as Colombia and Kenya-they are exposed to a toxic cocktail of chemicals used to destroy pests and fungus, and to keep flowers fresh for the supermarket shelves-according to the Colombian National Institute of Health, women on flower farms experience higher-than-average rates of miscarriages, premature births and congenital malformations. Workers exposed to pesticides also suffer skin lesions, allergies, respiratory problems, fainting spells, headaches, eye problems and chronic asthma-employees work up to 15 hours a day to meet retailers’ heavy demandsworking conditions on many flower farms are dismal, even on those farms with ethical certification such as Florverde in Colombia workers cover long shifts at one task with only a short break per day, often resulting in physical injuries-women are subjected to a high rate of sexual harassment due to isolated work areas, and there is often no safe drinking water whilst on the job. 1 Day of work for this worker from Columbia = 400 stems cut.

U.S. Wholesale Cost: $8 = 2 bunches of Carnations (which is 20 stems) Support Local Back in the day we did it, why not bring it back? By supporting local you are cutting out all the middle men, most of the transport and fuel to get it here, and supporting local farmers! Educate Others Nothing will change if people don't know.These issues are so hidden from our eyes that they must be revealed by those who have seen or heard. The problem is, once you discover an issue with one import, you discover an issue with all of them.Be prepared.